'James McClean is still a Derry City player'

MARK Connolly insists James McClean remains a Derry City player despite reports suggesting the Ireland centurion had his contract terminated last week.

The 37 year-old Creggan man has two-and-a-half years yet to run on his current deal and Derry's interim boss Connolly insists nothing has changed despite growing uncertainty surrounding the player's future at the club.

James McClean remains a Derry City player despite speculation he had his contract terminated. Photo by Paul Phelan/Sportsfile

placeholder image — James McClean remains a Derry City player despite speculation he had his contract terminated. Photo by Paul Phelan/Sportsfile

McClean was the last player to arrive at Brandywell at 9:58am Tuesday morning to take part in the open training session staged as part of the Féile Derry 2026 celebrations, passing a phalanx of TV cameras and assembled press at the car park gates.

Inside, the 103-capped McClean happily posed for photographs and signed autographs for some of the 1,200 fans who turned out.

Interim manager Mark Connolly during a Derry City open training session at The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium in Derry. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

McClean also took part in training at Derry's Owenbeg base on Wednesday morning and Connolly was quick to brush off the controversy when quizzed on the situation.

"It's been manic. There's been a lot of noise but ultimately I'm a football person and I deal with the football side of things," said Connolly.

"There isn't too much to comment on," he added. "James is obviously still a Derry City player. There's been a lot of noise with it all and ultimately my focus is just stepping in, which, as you can imagine, has been a mad week. My full focus has been on the footballing side."

Asked if there was any truth in rumours the club has offered McClean a settlement, Connolly responded: "It was interesting to see the speculation on him turning up for training. James is a Derry player.

James McClean during a Derry City open training session at The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium in Derry. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

"Ultimately he has trained sometimes and not trained sometimes due to his age but yeah, James McClean is a Derry City player and that's really it moving forward."

It's been claimed Derry City has since backtracked on their plan to dismiss the player on medical grounds due to a chronic hip injury but Connolly wasn't prepared to discuss the player's fitness.

"That's something I won't be commenting on," he said bluntly. "Ultimately I'm not 100 per cent sure about all the ins and outs. The biggest thing for me is that I've come into a situation at the club taking over the team, and that's my main focus - making sure to provide as much information to the players as I can to get as many points and try and progress in the cup."

When pressed on whether or not he's had talks with the player regarding the situation, the Monaghan man added: "I had a chat with James yesterday but that's obviously between James and myself. I'm just focussing on the football.

"Like I said James is a Derry City player. He's one of 20 odd players. They're all Derry City players and that's how it will be moving forward." Derry City travel to the Belfield Bowl for a Club Orange FAI Cup second round clash with UCD on Friday night but Connolly refused to reveal whether McClean would be involved in the game.

The Creggan man has played just 19 fixtures in all competitions this season with his last start coming against Tolka Rovers in the previous round of the cup back on July 19th.

"Again that's something I'll not be commenting on to be honest with you. I'm just trying to focus on the training that's happened. I don't know what will happen on Friday regarding team selection and stuff. We had a training session today going through stuff. We will have a training session tomorrow and then we will decide what we're going to do on Friday but that's my full focus."